Contact

Reaching the right person with a specific question about cognac — whether that's a technical question about AOC rules, a sourcing question about a particular artisan producer, or a general inquiry about the site — is straightforward. This page covers how to get in touch, what to expect in terms of response time, and which topics fall within the scope of this reference.

Response expectations

Most inquiries submitted through the contact form receive a response within 3 to 5 business days. That window exists not as a bureaucratic buffer but because substantive questions about cognac — the kind that come in here — tend to deserve more than a boilerplate reply. A question about the difference between Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne crus, for instance, or about how BNIC oversight applies to export labeling, gets treated like a real question.

What determines response priority:

1. Specificity — Questions that name a producer, a grade, a regulation, or a flavor compound get answered faster than broad prompts. "What's good?" is harder to answer helpfully than "What distinguishes the flavor profile of a VS from the Fins Bois region?"
2. Relevance to site scope — This reference covers cognac as defined by French AOC law: production in the Charente and Charente-Maritime departments, double distillation in copper pot stills, and aging in French oak. Questions about non-AOC brandy may receive limited responses.
3. Source requests — If the inquiry is about where a specific figure or claim on the site originates, those questions are treated as high priority. Factual accountability matters.

The one category that receives no response: requests to publish sponsored content, paid reviews, or affiliate-linked product placements. That's not a model this reference operates on.

Additional contact options

The main contact form is the primary channel. It routes inquiries by topic type, which speeds up handling considerably compared to a general-purpose email address.

For questions that fall into specific categories, these distinctions apply:

• Editorial corrections — If something on the site is factually wrong, that's the most important category of message to send. Name the page, the claim, and the source that contradicts it. Corrections are reviewed within 48 hours.
• Trade and industry inquiries — Producers, importers, and négociants operating in the US market with questions about US import and distribution or labeling law compliance can use the same form with the "Trade" category selected.
• Research and press — Journalists and academic researchers covering cognac market trends or cognac's role in American drinking culture are welcome to reach out for background context or source guidance.

Social media is not monitored for substantive inquiries. A question buried in a comment thread has roughly the same chance of a thoughtful answer as a note tucked under a windshield wiper in Jarnac.

How to reach this office

The contact form is located on this page. It asks for a name, an email address, a topic category, and the message itself. No account creation is required. No data is shared with third parties for marketing purposes — the information goes to the editorial team and nowhere else.

For those who prefer structured written communication, the form supports plain text up to 1,000 characters per submission. Longer technical inquiries — a detailed question about vintage cognac valuation, for example, or a multi-part question about distillation methods — can be broken into sequential submissions or flagged in the message as part of a larger question set.

Response format mirrors the inquiry format. A short question gets a direct answer. A detailed technical question gets a correspondingly detailed response, often with links to relevant pages on the site or named external sources such as the BNIC (Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac) or French customs export data.

Service area covered

This reference operates with national scope across the United States. The content is written for a US-based readership: pricing references reflect the American import market, regulatory context covers US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) labeling requirements alongside French AOC rules, and buying guidance is framed around what's actually available through American retail and distribution channels.

That said, the subject matter — cognac itself — is French, and the site treats French regulatory sources as primary. The BNIC sets the production rules. The Institut National de l'Origine et de la Qualité (INAO) administers the AOC designation. When French law and American market practice diverge, both are noted explicitly.

Inquiries from outside the US are welcome. The site doesn't gate content by geography, and questions from readers in other markets are handled with the same care. Response time may vary slightly for inquiries that require sourcing region-specific regulatory documents, particularly for markets outside the EU and US where cognac import rules differ substantially from the standard TTB framework.

What falls outside the scope of this reference: whiskey, rum, mezcal, and other spirits categories, even where cognac comparisons arise naturally. The one adjacent topic covered in depth is cognac vs. Armagnac, because the two are genuinely difficult to distinguish and the confusion is legitimate rather than casual. Everything else — brandy from outside the AOC zone, grape spirits from other countries — is addressed only in passing, when context requires it.